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Business Judgment Rule Controlling Stockholders Shareholder Litigation

Allen Matkins

Court: Nevada Allows Controllers To Vote In Their Own Interest

Allen Matkins on

Yesterday’s post concerned the recent decision by U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Eskridge in Rowe v. Doris, 2025 WL 963590 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 31, 2025).  The case involved claims arising from the merger of two Nevada...more

Allen Matkins

This Texas Case Illustrates Why Delaware Corporations Are Choosing Nevada

Allen Matkins on

Bright-eyed Athena, the goddess of wisdom, was not birthed of a woman.  Rather, she sprang from the head of Zeus after he swallowed Metis, the pre-Olympian goddess of wisdom...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Delaware Enacts Sweeping Changes to the Delaware General Corporation Law

The Delaware Legislature passed, and Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer signed on March 25, 2025, the landmark Senate Bill 21. Senate Bill 21 amends the Delaware General Corporation Law (the "DGCL") in significant ways, with broad...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

In re Oracle Corporation Derivative Litigation: Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Chancery Court Decision Not to Impose Fiduciary...

On January 21, 2025, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision in In re Oracle Corp. Derivative Lit., finding that a less than 50% stockholder does not owe fiduciary duties absent evidence of either...more

Perkins Coie

When Is a Minority Stockholder a Controller? The Delaware Supreme Court Reaffirms the Ground Rules in In Re Oracle Derivative...

Perkins Coie on

Controlling stockholders owe fiduciary duties to other stockholders that minority stockholders do not. A holder of over 50% of a corporation’s voting power is clearly a controlling stockholder. As a consequence, transactions...more

Allen Matkins

Is Pareto Optimality The Answer For Controlling Stockholder Transactions?

Allen Matkins on

Yesterday's post concerned the Delaware Supreme Court's decision that the business judgment rule applied to TripAdvisor's decision to reincorporate in Nevada.  Maffei v. Palkon, 2025 WL 384054 (Del. Feb. 4, 2025).  This...more

Jenner & Block

Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies MFW Framework

Jenner & Block on

On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court held in In re Match Group Inc., Derivative Litigation that the entire fairness standard of review applies to all controlling stockholder transactions in which a controller receives...more

Venable LLP

Fiduciary Liability Limitations Under Nevada Law Trigger Entire Fairness Review of Conversion from Delaware Due to Controlling...

Venable LLP on

The Delaware Court of Chancery, in Palkon v. Maffei, et al., C.A. No. 2023-0449-JTL (Del. Ch. Feb. 20, 2024), determined that a reduction in the liability exposure of a fiduciary due to the conversion of a Delaware...more

Goodwin

Delaware Court of Chancery Rescinds Elon Musk’s $55.8 Billion Compensation Package in Cautionary Tale About Director Independence...

Goodwin on

On January 30, 2024, the Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery struck down the $55.8 billion compensation plan that Tesla, Inc.’s board of directors had granted to Tesla’s well-known CEO, Elon Musk, finding that the...more

DarrowEverett LLP

Life May Not Be Fair, But Interested Party Transactions Should Be

DarrowEverett LLP on

When a court reviews contested business transactions of a Delaware corporation, they typically rely on one of two standards of review: the “business judgment rule” or the “entire fairness standard.” The business judgment rule...more

Goodwin

Delaware Chancery Court Clears Musk of Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claim

Goodwin on

On April 27, 2022, the Delaware Court of Chancery in In re Tesla Motors Stockholder Litigation rendered a post-trial verdict finding for Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, Inc., on claims that Musk breached his...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Further Clarifies the “Ab Initio” Requirement in Finding That Discussions Between the Controlling...

In In re HomeFed Corp. Stockholder Litigation (“HomeFed”), the Delaware Court of Chancery considered on a motion to dismiss whether a squeeze-out merger by a controlling stockholder complied with the procedural framework set...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Board Guidance: Getting To Business Judgment Rule Deference When You Have A Controlling Stockholder

IN RE DELL TECHNOLOGIES INC. CLASS V STOCKHOLDERS LITIGATION There has been a growing deference in Delaware courts for transactions approved by independent special committees and minority stockholders. In the context of a...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Key Developments in Delaware Corporation Law

Consistent with trends in recent years, in 2019 Delaware corporation law largely was shaped by post-closing suits for money damages against directors who had approved mergers and acquisitions. Two Delaware Supreme Court...more

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog

Chancery Finds General Counsel Potentially Liable for Misleading Tender Offer Documents

Morrison v. Berry considers Plaintiff’s claims for damages following the purchase of a grocery-store chain, The Fresh Market, Inc. (“Fresh Market” or the “Company”) by Apollo investment entities. The Plaintiff was a former...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Delaware Standards of Review

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In the context of an M&A transaction, practitioners are routinely left to navigate the various standards of review that are applied by the Delaware courts to evaluate whether a Delaware corporation’s directors have complied...more

Jones Day

Chancery Court Requires Entire Fairness Review of Tesla CEO Compensation

Jones Day on

The Background: A shareholder challenged an extraordinary and extremely lucrative incentive-based compensation package awarded by Tesla to its chair, CEO, and controlling shareholder, claiming a breach of fiduciary duties. ...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

What's New in Corporate Governance and Securities Law - October 18, 2019

Corporate Governance and Securities Law Developments - Directors Can Be Held Liable for Failure to Oversee “Mission Critical” Regulatory Compliance - On October 1, the Delaware Court of Chancery refused to dismiss a...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Supreme Court Revives Stockholder Claims, Finding MFW Protections Were Not In Place Prior To Economic Negotiations

A&O Shearman on

On April 5, 2019, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed in part and affirmed in part a decision of the Delaware Court of Chancery that had dismissed a stockholder challenge to an all-stock business combination between...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

‘Partial and Elliptical Disclosures’ May Preclude Corwin Doctrine

Under Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC1 and its progeny, “when disinterested, fully informed, uncoerced stockholders approve a transaction absent a looming conflicted controller,” the irrebuttable business judgment rule...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Getting to Business Judgment in an Interested Transaction: Controlling Stockholder Must Put Procedural Protections in Place Prior...

In Flood v. Synutra Int’l, Inc., No. 101, 2018, 2018 Del. LEXIS 460 (Del. Oct. 9, 2018), the Delaware Supreme Court (Strine, C.J.) held that a controlling stockholder who pursues a merger with the controlled company will have...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Supreme Court Holds That Business Judgment Rule Applies To Controller Transactions As Long As MFW Conditions Are In Place...

A&O Shearman on

On October 9, 2018, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissing a lawsuit brought by stockholders of Synutra International Inc. (the “Company”) challenging a controlling...more

Morris James LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Explains the Ab Initio Requirement of MFW

Morris James LLP on

Flood v. Synutra Int’l, Inc., C.A. No. 101, 2018 (Del. Oct. 9, 2018) - Under Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp., 88 A.3d 635 (Del. 2014), commonly referred to as MFW, a controller may gain the benefit of business judgment review...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Applies MFW To Stockholder Challenge To An All-Stock Transaction With Allegedly Controlling...

A&O Shearman on

On July 20, 2018, Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a stockholder challenge to an all-stock business combination between Earthstone Energy, Inc. (“Earthstone”) and Bold Energy III...more

Morris James LLP

Court Of Chancery Explains When Claim Is Direct And Survives A Merger

Morris James LLP on

In re Straight Path Communications Inc. Consolidated Stockholder Litigation, C.A. No. 2017-0486-SG (Del. Ch. June 25, 2018) - When a merger closes, stockholders of the acquired company generally lose standing to pursue...more

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